


He’s real

by Scoby



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Christmas, Christmas Eve, Christmas Presents, Cute Kids, Does Santa Claus Exist?, F/M, First Meetings, Humor, Kylo Ren style Santa Claus, Letters to Santa, Rey's kids are badass, Single Parent Rey (Star Wars), Strangers to Lovers, Wordcount: 1.000-3.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:00:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28320519
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scoby/pseuds/Scoby
Summary: “Are you Rey?” He looks at her intensely with a pair of dark eyes that bore into her for a long moment. No smile, no cheerful lightness. His voice is deep and rich, which would probably be a good sign if it was not quite so grim. But if Rose trusts him to be a ‘credible Santa’, he is probably a very good actor.“Yes. So you’re Ben, right?”He nods, eyes still not leaving her.“Ok, here are the gifts. When do you think you’ll be coming?”
Relationships: Armitage Hux/Rose Tico, Rey & Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Rey & Rose Tico, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 7
Kudos: 30





	He’s real

**Author's Note:**

> Happy holidays to everyone with this dumb/cute Reylo Christmas adventure!

_Dear Santa,_

_I wish for Razor Crest Lego set and cellphone.  
Alex stil cant write but he wishs for Pokémon training kit with Funko Bulbasaur and Magicarp.  
Loking foward to seeng you soon,_

_Damien_

Rey reads the adorably shaky handwriting once more and folds the wrinkled slip of paper back to her pocket. She picks the Razor Crest Lego set from the shelf in front of her and moves on to compare Pokémon training kits.

“Found everything?” Rose appears behind her as she chooses the one with Funko Bulbasaur and Magicarp. Rose’s own arms are full with a Frozen Barbie set, a chemistry kit and a My Little Pony house.

“Yeah”, Rey replies and they head for the queue for the cashier. “I’ve got their gifts. Now I just need the Santa to deliver them.”

“Doesn’t Poe normally do it for you?”

“Yes, he used to, and he’s good at it. I’m just worried that Damien is getting old enough to recognise his godfather. Last year he already looked suspicious.”

“Yeah, I see. We’re also suspecting that Armitage can’t do it himself for our kids anymore. But he has a friend he talked over to come. We could ask if he can drop by at your place after he’s done with us.”

“Are you sure?”

“Of course. We’ll ask - or actually, we’ll insist - and I’ll text you his number so you can settle the details.”

“Oh, thank you!”

Rey’s shoulders drop with relief. She would give Rose a hug if they were not both about to drown under toys. She settles for an air kiss, which Rose returns with a wide grin. Their turn comes and they unload their toys on the cashier tables to pay them and get them wrapped.

* * *

**Rose** : He agrees! Just text him to fix the specs. His name is Ben Solo and number 0405520180

 **Rey** : Thank you, you saved me! <3<3<3<3<3

 **Rose** : Thank Armitage. He threatened to strangle Ben if he wouldn’t do it

 **Rey** : Ok, tell him my thanks, but that it wouldn’t have been necessary…

 **Rose** : Of course it was. Your boys are so adorable that they deserve everything good in the world, including a credible Santa

 **Rey** : Thanks, you two are my heroes. I’ll text Ben

In a few minutes, she agrees with Ben Solo that he will drop by tomorrow to pick up the sack of gifts.

* * *

“Mama will take out the trash. I’ll be right back.”

“Yeah”, Damien mutters as an answer and pushes Alex out of his way as he dives into the Lego bucket to search for the right parts for his pirate ship. Alex frowns for a second but shifts his interest to his own police station, making Rey sigh with relief. Looks like no fight is about to break out, at least not just yet.

She picks the not-really-full trash bag in one hand and the gift sack in the other and sneaks out to the neighbouring street corner. A black SUV is already parked there, half on the sidewalk. A man is leaning on it – a man whose appearance strikes Rey as nothing like a classic image of a joyful Santa Claus.

“Are you Rey?” He looks at her intensely with a pair of dark eyes that bore into her for a long moment. No smile, no cheerful lightness. His voice is deep and rich, which would probably be a good sign if it was not quite so grim. But if Rose trusts him to be a ‘credible Santa’, he is probably a very good actor.

“Yes. So you’re Ben, right?”

He nods, eyes still not leaving her. She suddenly feels like she has to do anything possible to fill the silence that is intensifying and distracting her mind from what she needs to accomplish within a timeframe that would feel reasonable for a trip to take out the trash.

“Ok, here are the gifts. They're getting what they wished for in their letter to 'you'." Rey passes Ben the sack and makes air-quotes to emphasise 'you'. "When do you think you’ll be coming?”

“Is around seven a good time?”

“Yes, sure, whenever suits you. I mean, you’re doing me a great favour. My kids really love Santa Claus, but they’re getting a bit too old for a familiar face and voice to pass, you know. I’ll get you something after, as a thank you. What would you like?”

“Don’t bother, it’s fine. Helping you helps me escape being strangled to death, and that’s a lot.”

Just a tiny quirk in the corner of his mouth indicates that he is joking and melts Rey into a giggle.

“Ok, I’m saving your life then. You’re welcome. But now I need to go back. The kids think I’m just taking out the trash.” She lifts up her decoy trash bag. “See you on Christmas Eve!”

“See you, Rey.”

She can almost feel his eyes still on her, even as she turns around and hurries to the trash shelter. Something makes her stomach flutter, but she forces herself into quick moves as she shoves the bag into the trash container. Then she hurries back indoors, pretending to be fully at ease and just returning from a completely normal trip to the trash shelter. She breathes out with relief as she hears the steady clicking of Lego bricks going on with no suspicion aroused.

* * *

“Damien, do you think he’ll come?” Alex whispers at the Christmas table. His plate of food is barely half-eaten and his whole tiny body seems to shake with nervous excitement.

“Of course he will. I wrote to him.”

“But did you write exactly what I told you? Funko Bulbasaur and Magicarp?”

“Of course. I showed you, remember?”

“But I can’t read.”

“That’s why you have me. I promise you that he’ll come. And he’ll bring exactly what you wished for.”

Damien tries to sound hopeful and reassuring for his brother. But inside, he cannot help it that he has seriously started to doubt if Santa Claus exists at all. Sure, he has visited them every Christmas Eve as long as he remembers. But there is something oddly familiar about how he remembers him from last year. His brown, twinkly eyes; loud, excited voice; and the strand of dark curls that peeked from below his white hair reminded Damien so much of Uncle Poe that he cannot help but think of a scenario where his godfather has just dressed up in a costume and acted like Santa.

It hurts his heart to even consider that possibility. But Alex’s shaking is contagious and, by the time they have finished eating and tried to settle down in the living room, they are both too antsy to do anything else but jump up and down on the sofa or run back and forth across the room. And finally, hope swells even in Damien’s chest when the doorbell rings and Alex screams at the top of his lungs:

“He’s here!”

He sprints to the door, and Damien finds his own feet following him, a few steps behind but still running.

Rey smiles to herself when listening to the excited screams and tapping of the small feet followed by the clicking of the door when Alex opens it. But after that, both boys fall dead silent. Soon, they retreat back to the living room.

Rey understands why, when she sees who follows them: Ben Solo is dressed up in pitch black tunic, trousers and boots, topped with a long black cowl bordered with fur. His elf hat is black, with red cracks on it like it had been patched together with molten lava. On his face, he has added a long beard that is as black, shiny and fluffy as his hair. And his hands are covered in tight-fitting black leather gloves. His only ordinary Santa-like accessory is the red sack that Rey gave him a couple of days ago.

“Merry Christmas.” His voice is even more sinister than when Rey first met him. He sits down in an armchair, drops the sack down next to it, props his elbows on his knees and leans forward to examine Damien first. “What’s your name, little man?”

Rey is about to stand up, rush to her kids, take them in her arms and tell them that Santa has made a horrible mistake this year and she will immediately send this scary man away. In fact, it is her who has made the horrible mistake. She should never have trusted a random guy she just barely met. No, she should have asked Poe again, told him to be more careful, alter his voice more and maybe wear coloured contact lenses. But she did not, and now this creepy stranger has invaded their home. But to her surprise, Damien’s mouth opens in astonishment.

“Don’t you know me?” his shy but bright voice asks.

“Santa has millions of kids to visit. I can’t remember everyone.”

“Wow, yes, of course… I’m Damien.”

“And I’m Alex.” Alex’s voice sounds a notch more frightened, but he makes a heroic effort to hide it.

“Ok, so, Alex and Damien, have you been nice?” Ben asks, his eyes and voice full of deadly menace.

“Y-yes… “We – we have…” “We’ve tried…” “…a lot...” They both struggle to get a full sentence out under his intense glare.

Ben turns to look at Rey for the first time and raises an eyebrow. She quickly nods. The faster they get this over with the better. As soon as she gets him out of the door and the boys to enjoy their gifts, they will forget all about this disaster. And next year, she will be a lot smarter about who she lets into her home and close to her kids.

“That settles it, then”, Ben says after getting Rey’s confirmation. “Guys, I got your letter and I might have something for you in my sack. But the question is: do you dare to sit in Santa’s lap?”

“You don’t have to, sweeties”, Rey hurries to say and adds with a side-eyed glare at Ben: “Santa _will_ give your gifts even if you don’t.”

But Damien has already taken a deep breath and a step forward. Determined eyes never leaving Ben, who looks like a giant black hole in the middle of the cheerfully Christmas-decorated living room, he takes another step with shaky legs. And then another, and another, until he is close enough to climb up on his knee. Alex follows him, more slowly, but gradually fighting over his terror, putting stubbornly one foot in front of the other. Finally, he also reaches the arm chair and gets up on Ben’s other knee.

Ben leans to the side to dig into the sack and pulls out the first gift.

“This is for you, Alex.”

Whatever is left of Alex’s fear completely dissolves when he rips open the red and white paper and finds what is inside.

“It _is_ the Pokémon training kit! With Funko Bulbasaur and Magicarp!” He turns to show it to Rey, and the sight of her quickly reminds him of something he was about to forget. “Thank you, Santa!”

Rey has already decided that if they would forget to say 'thank you', she would not even prompt them. Ben has definitely not earned any of their thanks. But Alex’s joy about his gift is heavily contagious, and she is forced to smile for the first time after this villainous Santa entered their living room.

“And this is for you, Damien.” Ben has fished another gift from the sack.

Damien approaches it more carefully. He first just shakes and enjoys the pleasant slushing of Lego bricks inside. But he has hoped that there would be something a little more.

“No cellphone?” he asks.

Ben seems momentarily out of words.

“Maybe Santa thought that you’re still a bit too small for it”, Rey fills in.

“Yes, that’s exactly what I thought”, Ben confirms, casting a thankful glance at Rey who finds herself mildly amused against her will.

Damien nods and focuses on carefully opening the gift he did get, unsticking the tapes so that the paper does not get damaged. When the paper is finally out of the way, his eyes light up.

“See, Mama, it’s the Razor Crest! The little Amban rifle and the carbon freezing unit and everything, wow!!! Thank you, Santa!”

Ben leans once more to the side to pick up one more gift.

“And this is for Mama.”

Rey stands up and walks over. She acts surprised even though she knows very well what she got for herself. She always gets something cheap and simple, like the chocolate bar she got now, just to make Santa's character more credible by making him bring something for everyone.

Ben hands her the familiar gift and she takes it. But when she rips the paper away, her eyes widen for real. Besides the chocolate bar she wrapped, there is also a gift card to a spa and four movie tickets.

When she becomes aware of Damien and Alex staring at her, she gathers herself to say: “Wow, thank you, Santa, what a – nice surprise…”

“My elves told me that they rarely see you treating yourself to anything, Rey. I thought this would encourage you.”

She swallows, with no words left.

“How do you know her name?” Damien asks.

“Your Mama is special”, Ben assures him and his momentarily suspicious eyes light up again.

“That’s it, I’d better be going. A couple of million homes to still visit tonight.” Ben lifts the boys down and fistbumps with both of them, opening his gloved hand into a dramatic flare when their fists part. Then he waves a hand at Rey, walks to the door and opens it.

“Prepare my sledge!” he shouts to the yard like he would have an army of elves waiting outside.

Alex and Damien sprint to the window to look out, but Ben has shut off their outdoor lighting, and in the dark, they can only see a dark figure walking across the yard and some large shape moving on the street behind it.

Rey is looking for words for how to apologise to her kids. She wanted to arrange them something nice for Christmas, but instead, she ended up frightening them - who knows, perhaps traumatising them for life. But before she can decide what to say, she hears them start talking to each other:

“Did you see that?”

“Yes, I saw it!”

“The huge sledge, like massive, and fast!”

“Like neeeooooow!”

“Yeah, and the hand bomb like phooooom!”

“PHOOOOOM!!!”

They repeat Ben’s fistbump gesture together and pretend to die on impact.

“And we just walked to him to sit in his lap like he was a teddy bear.”

“Yeah, yeah, we were badasses.”

“Exactly, that’s what we were!”

“And we spoke with him like he was our pal, like ‘Hello there!’”

“Hellooo theeere!!!”

They get carried away with making funny greeting gestures and grimaces and burst out laughing. Rey already beings to think that maybe she did not make as big a mistake as she had thought, after all. Then, she hears Damien say more quietly:

“You know what, Alex?”

“What, Damien?”

“I – errr – I had some doubts, that maybe – just maybe Santa Claus wouldn’t exist. That maybe it’s just s-somebody dressed up like him and playing that he’s him. But I was so wrong. Because now I saw that he’s definitely real. And he’s a badass.”

Rey decides to not say anything and just smiles to herself as Damien begins to build the Razor Crest and Alex to train his new Pokémons. She quietly picks up her phone and opens the online booking system of the spa where she got the gift card. For next Thursday evening – the time of the week when the boys always go to Rose’s place to play with their kids – she books a hot stone massage. Then, she reopens the chat with Ben.

 **Rey** : Thank you so much for coming. Turns out that the boys really liked you

 **Ben** : No problem. Thank you again for saving my life

 **Rey** : And thank you for the gift, really. You wouldn’t have had to

 **Ben** : I just wanted to. You’re welcome

 **Rey** : I still want to get something to you

 **Ben** : Alrd told you you don’t have to

 **Rey** : I want you to use one of my movie tickets with me so I can get us popcorn

 **Rey** : If you’d like to

 **Ben** : Sure, I’d like that. I actually made it four tickets on purpose, if you want to take somebody and the boys

 **Rey** : No, not the boys, just you

 **Ben** : Why not? They seemed fun

 **Rey** : I don’t want them to get to know you. I want you to be their Santa again next year

But they did not make it even until the summer before Rey decided that she still had several months to find another Santa and explained to her kids that she would like them to meet her boyfriend.

**Author's Note:**

> I love Ben interacting with kids through Kylo Ren's persona. Another AU in this style is [Powerful light, powerful darkness](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26181610/chapters/63710059)
> 
> If you enjoyed, feed me with kudos/comments and find me on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/IamScoby)


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